Income gaps should be catalysts for sharing the wealth

Published 5:15 pm, Thursday, September 19, 2013

It's a stretch to think Americans, like French peasants or Russian serfs in centuries past, will rise up and revolt to protest economic inequality in this country. But the ability of the more affluent to not only survive the last recession, but to seemingly profit from it, has poorer Americans who are still trying to recover from the downturn wondering if they are getting a fair shake.

The country's wealthiest 1 percent has recovered much more quickly from the recession, seeing its incomes increase more than 31 percent between 2009 and 2012, compared with less than half a percent for the other 99 percent of Americans.

The wealthiest 10 percent of Americans, those earning more than $114,000 a year, took home more than half the nation's income last year. That's the largest share of overall income acquired by a single category since that statistic was first recorded in 1917.

Just as upsetting to many Americans is how some companies seem to be avoiding job creation even as they look for ways to exploit the economic system to boost profits. An example of that mind-set is how Verizon is not planning to use any significant portion of Wednesday's record-breaking $49 billion bond issue to create new products and jobs. The telecommunications firm will instead use the borrowed cash to buy out Vodaphone. Once again, the rich will have the opportunity to get richer while the jobless continue to look for work.

It's not engaging in class warfare to ask companies thriving after the recession to remember that adding jobs to the economy helps to ensure their success, too. It's not fomenting revolution to want to spread the wealth. It's how to put more money in the hands of consumers to make purchases of goods and services, which is the oil that keeps this country's economic engine running.